


how can i say

by wonsteapot



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-08
Packaged: 2019-03-15 07:59:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13609008
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wonsteapot/pseuds/wonsteapot
Summary: For as long as Wonwoo can remember, Soonyoung's been his shadow, and he, Soonyoung's. Best friends since childhood. Which is why Wonwoo usually goes along with Soonyoung's self-proclaimed genius ideas with often disastrous results.But Soonyoung's most recent idea takes the cake.





	how can i say

**Author's Note:**

  * For [calculus](https://archiveofourown.org/users/calculus/gifts), [dollyeo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/dollyeo/gifts).



> Right, this fic is for my precious February babies, Acire and Nini! HBD dearies!
> 
> It's not exactly what I set out to write, and I wish I could have done a better job at writing this, because you both deserve the best, but anyhow, this is what I have. Also, no matter how much I tried, I just couldn't work in any sexy times into this needlessly long piece of fiction. Many apologies. 
> 
> Lots of love!

For as long as Wonwoo can remember, Soonyoung's been his shadow, and he, Soonyoung's. 

Wonwoo's parents were the first ones to welcome Soonyoung's family when they moved to the neighbourhood as their new neighbours right across the street. Their mothers struck up a close friendship, often found in each other's kitchens, sharing baked goods and gossip over cups of tea while the Kwon's baby girl munched on mushy bananas. Two years later, both friends were busy complaining over the struggles of being pregnant, but also delighted to be sharing the experience together. 

Wonwoo was born exactly a month and two days after Soonyoung. Two months on, the first person he smiled at was Soonyoung when the other boy had accidentally rolled over and smacked Wonwoo on the chin. And the first time he crawled was to grab a bright pink rattle out of Soonyoung's chubby, sweaty clutches, which left him crying for a good two hours.

Or so the story goes according to their parents, who had gushed over it at every single joint birthday party the boys celebrated until they turned twelve. And then Soonyoung insisted on having his own birthday party because he wanted to hog all the attention to himself on his special day, ever the drama queen. 

So it's no surprise the boys grew up spending almost every single waking (and quite often sleeping) second of their lives together. Their parents made sure of it. The same playgroups, the same nursery, the same primary school, and even now, they are attending the same high school. 

Aside from a couple months back in secondary school when they refused to speak to each other over a disagreement at what they each deemed was the best anime ("Oh come on, Wonwoo! Naruto kicks Death Note's pretentious little ass!" Soonyoung had insisted while Wonwoo gagged theatrically. "Only a philistine would say that," Wonwoo had retorted, only for Soonyoung to wrinkle his brows and ask, "Who's Phil Stine?"). 

Which also meant they did almost everything together. From learning the letters of the alphabet to copying off each other's term papers (although this was mostly Wonwoo letting Soonyoung copy off his Mathematics finals every year). 

_But there really should be limits to doing everything together_ , Wonwoo thinks as he sits across from Soonyoung in their local ice cream parlour, watching his best friend destroy a tall _Bubblelicious_ sundae with a generous scoop of bubblegum ice cream and an extra sprinkling of sugar strands. 

If you overlook the overly sweet monstrosity Soonyoung is inhaling, he looks nice. 

Really nice. 

His perpetually messy hair is parted to one side and swept back, revealing his rarely-seen forehead. The pale blue shirt he has on looks ironed, probably by his mother, and his legs are snugly clad in a pair of brand new black jeans. If Wonwoo squints, he thinks he can even spot some black eyeliner darkening the corners of his eyes. 

All in all, it's a very disconcerting sight to Wonwoo, who's used to seeing only two variations of Soonyoung - in school uniform, or in baggy tracksuit pants and oversized t-shirts. It's actually making Wonwoo feel a bit light-headed. 

"Why are you staring?" Soonyoung eyes him warily, then shoves another large spoonful of ice cream into his mouth when Wonwoo merely raises an eyebrow, some of the syrup smearing against his chin.

Wonwoo is suddenly struck by the rather distressing urge to lean over and lick the smudge of sticky syrup off Soonyoung's face. 

"You're disgusting," he ends up saying to make up for the traitorous path his brain's taken ever since Soonyoung showed up at his front door half an hour ago to whisk him away on this dreaded date. 

Because yes, they are on a _date_ , courtesy of another one of Soonyoung's self-proclaimed genius ideas. 

 

 

("I want to ask Heejin out on a date," Soonyoung tells Wonwoo one fine evening while they are both pretending to work on their Korean History homework when really, they're both flicking through one of Wonwoo's dad's old _Playboy_ magazines, which he'd found incidentally while rooting through his dad's boxes in the garage to find a spare lightbulb. 

He'd not been able to look his dad in the eye for a good two weeks afterwards. 

Wonwoo hums, too busy admiring the curve of a model's firm ass to really pay Soonyoung much attention. And to be honest, he's kind of tired of hearing Soonyoung moon over Heejin, which he's been doing ever since the girl transferred to their school at the beginning of the school year. Just like the rest of the boys at their school. Everyone but Wonwoo, that is. 

"But I can't just ask her out as a complete noob to this whole dating scene," Soonyoung continues. "I need to really impress her if I want her to pick me over everyone else."

Wonwoo snorts. "What makes you think she'll say yes anyway?"

"Thanks for the support, man," Soonyoung scowls at him, but then crowds closer until Wonwoo nearly goes cross-eyed at the proximity. His breath smells faintly of the gummy bears he's been devouring for the past hour. 

Wonwoo wrinkles his nose and leans back. "What?"

"I need to go on a practice date."

"A _practice_ date?" Wonwoo echoes, dumbfounded. 

"Yeah, you know, like a rehearsal before the real event," Soonyoung says. 

"Are you hearing yourself?" Wonwoo asks, because Soonyoung often requires a reality check, which Wonwoo is only too happy to provide by way of ridicule. "Dating is not something that requires a rehearsal. It's not like one of your performances, you moron."

"And that's why first dates always turn out so disastrous," Soonyoung says sagely. "With some practice, you'll know what to do and _not_ to do on the real date."

Wonwoo opens his mouth to argue, but then falls silent. He doesn't want to admit it out loud, but his friend actually has a point. "Hm."

Soonyoung grins triumphantly. "So, are you going to help me?"

"Why are you involving me in this?"

"Because I need someone to go on a practice date with," Soonyoung explains, eyebrows raised expectantly. 

Wonwoo frowns. "I'm not helping you rope some poor girl into going on a fake date with you."

Soonyoung makes a show of rolling his eyes in a very exaggerated fashion, and Wonwoo is tempted to slap the condescending look off his face. "I don't want you to find me a girl. I want _you_ to go on a date with me."

Wonwoo slaps him. 

Lightly. 

Soonyoung sputters at him, cradling his abused cheek with a look of utter betrayal on his face. "What the hell was that for?"

"I just needed to slap some sense into you," Wonwoo remarks calmly before going back to the _Playboy_ centrefold. 

"Come on, Wonwoo," Soonyoung whines, draping himself over the naked model and blocking Wonwoo's view. "Help me out here. Besides, you're going to benefit from this too."

"I fail to see how this benefits anyone," Wonwoo says, shoving the other boy away from the magazine, only for Soonyoung to snatch it out of his grip and throw it halfway across the room. 

"Neither of us have been on a date, which is kind of sad if you think about it, really, I mean we turn eighteen in a couple of months." Soonyoung blusters on, ignoring the death glare Wonwoo is sending his way. "So, this is the perfect opportunity to do it without the risk of chasing away the girl you like, or might like in the future."

"Plus, it'll be my treat," he tags on at the end. 

Wonwoo's always been a bit weak in the face of free food, which is something Soonyoung knows only too well, that cheating bastard. "…deal.")

 

 

A long drawn out sigh follows his statement, and Soonyoung kicks him in the shin under the table. Wonwoo retreats with a yelp. 

"Dating etiquette would be for you to say that I look nice," Soonyoung says calmly. "Try it."

"Why would I say that?" Wonwoo exclaims incredulously, even as his eyes are busy checking his friend out, because seriously, the boy cleans up well! 

"Because we are on a date, and that's date talk," Soonyoung replies. "I would have said the same if you'd only bothered to make an effort."

Wonwoo casts a quick look down at his old ripped jeans and _SpongeBob_ t-shirt and feels somewhat ashamed. He hadn't expected Soonyoung to take this fake date so seriously. 

"This is ridiculous," Wonwoo mutters under his breath, and then flinches slightly under the glare Soonyoung aims at him. "Fine. You, uh, look nice, I guess."

Soonyoung beams at him and reaches over to pat his hand encouragingly. "Thank you, I went the extra mile for you," he says, voice dropping an octave lower. 

It's delivered so smoothly Wonwoo is left feeling like he's slid down a slide generously coated in grease. He shivers involuntarily, part horrified, and part impressed. "What kind of a cheesy line is _that_?"

"The kind that works if you're not so emotionally constipated," Soonyoung snaps irritably. "Never mind, just finish your sundae."

Usually they would be passionately discussing the latest _Final Fantasy_ game or going over a play-by-play of the previous night's _Premiere League_ match or complaining about their siblings, or even Wonwoo internally gagging while Soonyoung passionately waxed poetic over Heejin's beautiful smile and how she'd borrowed a pen from him during class, but tonight Soonyoung has firmly exiled those topics, instructing Wonwoo to engage in date-talk. The only issue being that neither of the boys have ever been on a date, and so it left conversation very stilted with both of them floundering around for a date appropriate topic to discuss. 

Soonyoung's approach was to ask him about his favourite everything, which might have worked if they didn't already know everything about each other down to the way they prefer to jack off (the result of a heart-to-heart they had when they'd initially stumbled across the joys of having a dick). On the other hand, Wonwoo chooses to grill Soonyoung about his future aspirations, which leaves Soonyoung feeling ruffled when it turns into Wonwoo lecturing him about making sensible career choices (honestly, what's wrong with wanting to be a porn star? _You get paid to have sex, Wonwoo!_ ).

After a painfully long fifteen minutes of intent dedication to polishing off their sundaes to mask the tension, the scrape of their spoons against glass the only sound to keep them company, they rush out of the ice cream parlour hoping the awkwardness would fade once they step out into the crisp air of an early spring night. 

Only it gets even more awkward when Soonyoung tries to hold his hand and Wonwoo leaps away from him with a high-pitched yelp. 

Soonyoung gives him a wide-eyed look. "What's wrong?"

"Why are you trying to hold my hand?" Wonwoo hisses, cradling the victimised hand carefully against his chest. 

"Because that's what you do on dates?"

"Well, I'd rather not," Wonwoo snaps. "You should ask Heejin if she wants to hold hands before making assumptions."

Soonyoung hums, a thoughtful look on his face before he smiles brightly at Wonwoo. "See, this is why I said this is a good idea. Better to make mistakes now than when you're on a real date."

Wonwoo rolls his eyes and lets Soonyoung drag him to the cinema, which is apparently next on his date itinerary. When Soonyoung tries to buy tickets for _Finding Dory_ , Wonwoo clips him on the back of his head and cuts in to ask for two tickets to _Me Before You_. Soonyoung gives him a long-suffering look, but Wonwoo pipes in with, "Romantic movies should always be your first choice during a date, doofus."

"Yeah, but this is only a pretend date," Soonyoung whines. 

"Shut up, you're the one who's been telling me to act like we're on a proper date," Wonwoo points out, gleefully handing over a large bucket of popcorn to Soonyoung and pushing him in the direction of the cashier. 

If Wonwoo's secretly a huge fan of the book and even discreetly shed a few tears at the end of the movie, Soonyoung doesn't have to know. There are some things his best friend is better off not knowing to preserve Wonwoo's sanity. Thankfully, Soonyoung drops off to sleep halfway through the movie after crunching through half of the popcorn and ends up drooling on his shoulder before the movie ends, and Wonwoo miraculously manages to leave the cinema with his dignity intact. 

"If I really was on a date with you, I'd be less than impressed with wearing your drool on my shirt," Wonwoo remarks, using the tissue Soonyoung handed him sheepishly to blot out the wet patch on his t-shirt. "Also, who the hell sleeps while watching a movie together on a first date?"

"Noted," Soonyoung mumbles. "I was actually planning on practicing the 'arm over shoulder' move, but the freaking movie was just so dull."

Wonwoo bites back a smile at his friend's sulky expression, heart unexpectedly skipping a few beats at the thought of Soonyoung casually draping his arm across his shoulders in the darkened theater, although it's beyond him why that particular image makes him nervous. Soonyoung's done more than that in the past when they've watched movies together, sometimes even draping himself across Wonwoo's lap to take a short nap. 

This stupid fake date is obviously doing weird things to his brain. 

"You really know how to sabotage yourself," Wonwoo tells his friend, who gives him a confused frown. "What if your date really liked the movie? If you diss it to her face, she'll either be annoyed or feel really stupid."

"Oh, yeah, I hadn't thought of that," Soonyoung says, then squints at Wonwoo suspiciously. "Wait, you actually _liked_ that sappy mushy excuse of a movie, didn't you?"

Wonwoo ignores him and sets off at a brisk pace. He can hear Soonyoung sniggering behind him as the other boy jogs after him. He gives Wonwoo a fond smile when he catches up, cheeks a bit flushed from the cold weather and the slight exertion. Wonwoo finds his eyes lingering on his features a bit longer than usual, and it leaves him feeling a bit breathless. 

"Are we done?" he asks to distract himself from the weird sensation building up in his stomach. 

Soonyoung checks his watch and then glances up at the cloudless night sky. 

"Shall we take a walk in the park?" Soonyoung suggests. "It's supposed to be romantic."

"Sure, getting mugged in the dark sounds really romantic."

Wonwoo swiftly dodges the elbow aimed at his stomach. Soonyoung pouts. "Nobody gets mugged in that park."

"Mr Park from down the street got mugged only last weekend!" Wonwoo says incredulously. "We saw him walking home in just his boxers."

"I still think he made that story up because Mrs Kang kicked him out of her house before he could get dressed," Soonyoung muses. "I heard Mr Kang returned from his business trip early that day."

"Honestly, you're going to get in to so much trouble one of these days for saying shit like that," Wonwoo informs Soonyoung, who merely shrugs and grumbles, "I'll shut up about it when they stop eye-fucking each other every time they're at the shop. Do you realise how traumatic it is to serve them when they're both too busy giggling and low-key fondling each other at the counter like a couple of punch-drunk teenagers?"

Wonwoo grimaces. "I didn't need that image in my head."

"Welcome to my reality," Soonyoung says grimly, then pouts at Wonwoo. "Can we just take a really short walk in the park, please?"

"It's nearly ten," Wonwoo protests. "We are meant to be home by half eleven at the latest."

"I just want to see the swans and then we can head home," Soonyoung says, the pout becoming even more pronounced. Wonwoo resists the urge to punch him in his cute little face. 

Despite all of his misgivings, Wonwoo agrees. Sadly, he's never been able to turn Soonyoung down when he pleads and pouts (see current example: the inadvisable date) because its reminiscent of taking candy away from a very clingy crying child. He comforts himself with the thought of Soonyoung being a Taekwondo black belt. At least he can throw his friend at the mugger if they strike and run for his life. 

"I hope you realise you're risking the safety of your date," Wonwoo grouches. "It's not very gentlemanly of you."

"Trust me, no one's going to try and mug you once they see your resting bitch-face."

Soonyoung yelps when Wonwoo pinches his cheek in retaliation. 

Wonwoo can only hope. 

Fifteen minutes later, they're treading through the walkway of the local park, which spans over at least a hundred acres of the city, a children's playground to one side next to a coffee shop and a boathouse, with a large lake in the centre as the main attraction. It's popular among families and the youth for picnics and barbeques during the summer, and a favourite spot for couples on dates, thanks to the heavy oaks and maples that provide plenty of cover from watchful eyes. Wonwoo thinks it is also the perfect spot for a serial killer to lie in wait for their oblivious victims who are stupid enough to wander around in the late hours of the night. 

The lampposts scattered around the park are sparse, leaving most of it shrouded in darkness, the trees casting ominous shadows on the ground in the few areas reached by the warm orange glow of the lights. The park is quiet and deserted, aside from their footfalls. 

"This is the last time I'm going along with one of your stupid ideas," Wonwoo whispers through clenched teeth after he nearly shrieks when Soonyoung steps on a fallen twig, making it crack loudly. 

Soonyoung snickers quietly and reaches over to squeeze his hand reassuringly, and then intertwines their fingers when Wonwoo doesn't immediately pull away. 

Wonwoo is too busy scanning the vicinity, ever vigilant to catch sight of any suspicious figures creeping along the trees, to pull away from Soonyoung this time and doesn't register the pleased sound Soonyoung makes. 

"It's so peaceful here," Soonyoung murmurs. 

"Until some twisted murderous git decides to make sashimi out of us," Wonwoo snaps irritably. Soonyoung snorts in response and mutters, "Scaredy-cat," under his breath. 

Wonwoo sighs loudly when they finally reach the bridge that crosses over the lake, not because of the ethereally white swans milling around on the water, but out of relief at the lamps running down both sides of the bridge, making it the brightest spot in the park. 

"I can see why this is such a popular dating spot," Soonyoung says once they're leant against the railing. 

"Why?" Wonwoo wonders, because he's struggling to see the upside of skulking around a creepy park in the middle of the night. 

His friend clucks at him loudly, then reaches over to tilt his chin up so that he's gazing up at the sky. 

And in that moment, every snarky comment dies silently on his tongue. 

The dark expanse of the park has blotted away the light pollution from the city lying beyond its borders, and the vast blackness of the sky is positively glittering, the stars spilling across it like a shower of diamonds. It's something Wonwoo has never spared a moment to admire, always too busy squinting at the artificial light of LED screens indoors. 

"Beautiful, huh?"

The hushed murmur shifts his attention from the constellations to the boy next to him. Soonyoung has his gaze trained upwards, lips parted and slightly tilted up at the corners in a small smile as he watches the twinkle of the stars. The warm light from the lamps cast orange highlights in his glossy black hair and almost makes his skin glow, and Wonwoo blinks, amazed at how soft Soonyoung's skin looks in that moment. His fingers twitch with the urge to touch, and Wonwoo realises belatedly that they're still holding hands. 

"Yeah, beautiful," Wonwoo agrees, gaze now intent on their interlocked fingers. 

There's a light tingling in his hand, shooting across his nerve endings where his skin is brushing against Soonyoung's chilly fingers. Wonwoo finds his gaze drawn back to Soonyoung's face once again, the tingling climbing up his arm and spreading across his chest like a wildfire, his heart speeding up and pushing colour into his cheeks. Soonyoung turns his head, meeting his eyes. For a second, Wonwoo thinks he can see the night sky reflected back in Soonyoung's eyes and he forgets how to breathe, but then Soonyoung smiles cheerily and his eyes disappear into perfectly shaped crescents. 

Wonwoo has always been at the top of his classes, book smart beyond his years and effortlessly impressing his teachers since primary school. But when it comes to emotional intelligence, he's always been a bit hopeless. 

Emotionally constipated, as Soonyoung likes to remind him. 

Maybe that's why it's only just occurring to him that he really _really_ doesn't want Soonyoung to ask Heejin out. 

"So, was this the perfect way to end a date or what?" Soonyoung asks after a few more minutes of stargazing, dragging Wonwoo out of his internal bubble of panic. 

Wonwoo nods, at a loss for words in the face of his world-shifting epiphany. 

"Good!" Soonyoung exclaims loudly, straightening up suddenly. He scrambles off the bridge hastily, tugging Wonwoo behind him. "Because I'm fucking _terrified_ and I might just piss my pants if I have to spend any longer in this creepy place. I could have sworn I saw the shadow of a bear or maybe a werewolf on the way here."

Wonwoo laughs. "And here I thought you were really enjoying the serene quietness of the park."

"Uh, no!" Soonyoung informs him, nearly jogging as he hurried along the walkway to the entrance of the park. "I was only braving it so I would look cool in front of my date. Glad to see it worked."

"I never said you looked cool," Wonwoo says, still very aware of Soonyoung's fingers wrapped around his hand. 

Soonyoung spares him a brief eye-roll but doesn't stop to engage in any further banter until they are well outside the boundaries of the park. Wonwoo tries not to mourn the loss of his hand when Soonyoung lets go once they arrive at their bus stop. 

"You were staring though," Soonyoung comments lightly, picking up the conversation where they left off as soon as Wonwoo sits down next to him after checking the bus times. "Why was that?"

"I was just amazed at how goofy you looked," Wonwoo retorts. 

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Soonyoung smirks, eyes zeroing in on Wonwoo's ears, which have a terrible habit of turning red when he's flustered. 

Wonwoo clears his throat and turns away from his friend's intense stare. "Now you just sound like a dick."

The other boy chuckles and falls silent, attention turning to his phone.

"It's terrible date etiquette to use your phone in the middle of it," Wonwoo huffs. 

"Well, the date's over," Soonyoung points out.

Against all common sense, Wonwoo finds himself saying, "The date's not over until you drop me off at home, so behave yourself." 

Soonyoung looks at him strangely, but before he can say anything in response, their bus arrives, and they quickly shuffle on, claiming the seats at the back as usual. They tend to always leave a seat between them so they can stretch their long limbs and sit comfortably, but tonight Wonwoo drops into the seat next to Soonyoung, earning him another weird look from his friend. 

The bus ride is mostly silent, the two of them and a middle-aged woman the only passengers this late at night. Soonyoung receives a text from his mother, asking after their whereabouts and Wonwoo watches quietly as Soonyoung replies to it, lips pursed, and eyes narrowed at the phone screen. 

_Best friend._

_Brother?_

If anyone had asked Wonwoo who Soonyoung is to him, he wouldn't have hesitated to say either of those things before tonight. But now, as he ponders those words over and over, tasting them on his tongue, they seem off-kilter. Wrong. 

No. Not wrong, but incomplete, unable to fully encompass how he feels about the boy sat next to him. And to be honest, perhaps there is nothing brotherly about way his heart hammers in his chest every time Soonyoung gives him a small smile. 

Wonwoo irrationally decides to blame Soonyoung's carefully styled hair for the limbo he's suddenly found himself in. 

By the time they are stood in front of Wonwoo's front door, at twenty-five past eleven on a cold Saturday night, Wonwoo's gone through several phases of denial and eventually settled on a grudging acceptance of his less than platonic feelings towards his best friend. But it's only half the battle, because the next step would be letting Soonyoung know, and he can feel his insides shrivel up in utter panic every time he thinks about saying the words.

"Right, then," Soonyoung says with a bright smile, tucking his hand into his jeans' pockets and shifting back on his heels. "I've dropped you off at your doorstep in one piece, hence officially marking the end of this date."

Still caught up in his internal meltdown, Wonwoo only stares back blankly. 

Soonyoung pauses as if waiting for Wonwoo to make a sarcastic remark, but when Wonwoo remains mute, he presses on, although a bit more hesitantly. "Look, I know you're going to say this was stupid and a huge waste of time, and I get that you didn't necessarily enjoy all of it, but trust me, I've found this very helpful. I know exactly what to do, how to behave, what works, what doesn't - "

"What about the kiss?" Wonwoo blurts out. 

Soonyoung freezes, mouth hanging open as his eyes double in size. "W-what?"

Wonwoo knows praying for lightening to strike him where he stood would be useless, so he pushes on, all the while screaming internally. 

"The kiss at the end of the date," Wonwoo repeats. "You haven't kissed me yet."

Soonyoung stares at him a bit longer, face colouring steadily. "Well, uh, no. I mean, I wasn't sure whether kissing on a first date was appropriate…but I guess if Heejin wants me to kiss her, then, I, uh, would."

"You've never kissed anyone." Wonwoo reminds him. He's not even sure what it is that he wants at this stage, but the thought of Soonyoung kissing someone else makes him feel slightly nauseous. But the alternative is Soonyoung kissing him, and even that makes him feel a bit woozy. 

"N-no, no, I guess I haven't." 

"If we're following your path of reasoning, along the lines of rehearsing your dates, then wouldn't you need to rehearse your kisses too?"

Soonyoung looks genuinely puzzled. "Are you suggesting I rehearse _kissing_ with you?"

Wonwoo doesn't reply immediately, watching the way Soonyoung's eyes dart quickly to his lips and back up to his eyes, before flinching away and focusing on something over his shoulder, his whole face flushed. 

His own face feels a bit warm, and his throat suddenly feels parched. "No. I'm just pointing out the flaw in your reasoning," he lies hastily. 

But he feels a small sense of satisfaction, because he can almost see the cogs in Soonyoung's brain starting to turn, slowly, but surely. 

Soonyoung tries to cover up his nerves by laughing, shoving Wonwoo back playfully. "Point taken, but I won't apologise for dragging you out tonight. Whether you admit it or not, you had fun and I paid for everything. So, stop sulking and go to bed, Wonwoo."

He waves and starts walking away, but Wonwoo is too quick, grabbing hold of his wrist and pulling him back until there are only a few inches separating them. 

Wonwoo waits until Soonyoung looks him in the eye. 

"Please don't ask her out," Wonwoo says quietly. 

Soonyoung blinks, surprised. "What?"

"Don't date Heejin, please."

"But, why?" Soonyoung demands, starting to look a bit cross. "Do you like her or something? You've always said no."

"I don't like _her_ ," Wonwoo states firmly, hoping it's enough for Soonyoung to catch on. 

And perhaps the stars had finally aligned to spare Wonwoo any further embarrassment that night, because understanding creeps onto Soonyoung's face and it goes slack in shock. 

"Wonwoo," he murmurs, taking a step back. 

"Please," Wonwoo begs, because why not? The damage is already done. 

They're still staring at each other in solemn silence when the door opens and Wonwoo's mother steps outside in her dressing gown. Wonwoo drops Soonyoung's hand like a hot potato. 

"How long are you boys planning to stand around in the cold?" she asks huffily. "Soonyoungie, your mother's waiting for you. Why don't you head home? Or should I call her to let her know you'll be staying over?"

"No!" Soonyoung almost yells. Both Wonwoo and his mother jump, startled. "I mean, I haven't got a change of clothes, Aunty, so I'll be going home now, uh, good night," he finishes lamely before hightailing back to his house across the street. 

He doesn't look back at Wonwoo even once.

*

The next morning, Wonwoo wakes up and automatically reaches across the bed to snatch his phone off the bedside table, checking for the usual barrage of messages from Soonyoung. 

Only this morning, there aren't any messages, and Wonwoo's heart sinks as he recalls their tense conversation from the previous night. When he'd indirectly confessed to Soonyoung. Confessed after coming to an abrupt revelation of his long-supressed romantic feelings for his childhood friend. All within the span of a couple of hours. 

And it's all thanks to one of Soonyoung's hare-brained ideas. 

After breakfast, he texts Soonyoung asking if he wants to come over to hang out, only for Soonyoung to ignore his text. After looking at the _delivered_ notification for a good twenty minutes, he grits his teeth and dials Soonyoung's number. It goes straight to his voicemail. 

Wonwoo stares at the phone in disbelief but decides to give Soonyoung the benefit of the doubt and instead goes over to his house that afternoon. Sunday afternoons are usually spent together, playing games or wasting time out in their backyards, so Wonwoo's confident Soonyoung would be bumming around in the house. 

Soonyoung's older sister, Minkyung, answers the door, and raises an eyebrow when she spots Wonwoo. "Wonwoo? What're you doing here?"

Wonwoo hesitates, equally confused. "I'm here to see Soonyoung?"

Minkyung's perfectly plucked eyebrows furrow. "But I thought you went to the city centre together?"

"What?"

"Soonyoung left around lunch time, said he was meeting a couple of friends at _TGI Fridays_ ," Minkyung explains, now looking a bit embarrassed. "I thought you'd be together, since, you know."

Wonwoo tries to hide his disappointment. "No, I guess he must have, uh, forgotten to mention it," he says, before mustering up a weak smile for Minkyung's benefit, who just gives him a pitying look. "I'll be off then. Please tell him I stopped by."

Soonyoung doesn't return his texts or calls the rest of the day, and he doesn't stop by his house when he comes back from the city. Wonwoo spends the rest of the day obsessively checking his phone while playing _Final Fantasy 10_ with Bohyuk, alternating between self-loathing and self-righteous anger.

*

Sadly, the avoidance doesn't stop at that. 

It carries on for the rest of the week, with Soonyoung disappearing off or suddenly becoming extremely busy with something whenever Wonwoo approaches him. It's a bit more difficult at school, especially given they shared most of their classes, but Soonyoung can be stubborn when he sets his mind to something, and it seems he's set his mind to avoiding Wonwoo at all costs. 

He still sits at the desk next to Wonwoo's, but he refuses to acknowledge him beyond a curt nod of greeting, and ignores all the notes Wonwoo passes him. As soon as classes are over, he slips out of class like a particularly slippery eel and disappears before Wonwoo can corner him. And he's highly skilled at ducking into nooks and crannies whenever he spots Wonwoo approaching him, seemingly vanishing into the walls sometimes. Wonwoo hadn't been aware their school had so many hideouts.

He's also conspicuously missing during lunch, which never happens. 

"What's going on with you two?" Jihoon asks during Friday's lunch period. "You've hardly exchanged a word over the last four days."

Junhui hums in agreement, stealing one of Wonwoo's chips shamelessly. "Did you guys have a fight? Is it anime once again?"

Wonwoo bats his thieving fingers away with a scowl. "No, he's just being a dick. I'm not the one ignoring him."

"I know it's easy to piss him off, but it's weird for him to stay angry at you for so long unless you've gone and insulted something that he's extremely passionate about," Jihoon muses thoughtfully, "which is what happened during the anime cold war. So, what've you done this time?"

"Why does it have to be my fault?" Wonwoo grumbles. 

"It usually is," Junhui says. 

Wonwoo thinks this is rather unfair, especially since he's done nothing wrong this time, aside from dropping a metaphorical bomb on Soonyoung's head. 

"Well, it's not," Wonwoo insists. "And he's just being immature because he doesn't know how to handle the situation."

"What situation?" Junhui probes, eyes gleaming with curiosity. 

"None of your business," Wonwoo snaps, but makes the mistake of glancing across the room at the table where Heejin is sat with her group of friends. His face clouds when the girl flicks her hair off her shoulder and laughs at something one of the others said. 

Jihoon smirks. "Let me go out on a limb and say this has something to do with Kim Heejin."

Wonwoo scowls and refuses to say any more on it. 

But he is incredibly relieved when Monday brings with it the news of Heejin dating a university student.

*

After two weeks of being ignored, Wonwoo decides to take matters into his own hands. 

Once he manages to get over the hurt of rejection, irritation at his best friend's childish behaviour takes over, and when sufficiently irritated, Wonwoo can become extremely resourceful. Resourceful in the way of hatching the perfect plan to catch Soonyoung unawares in his room on a Sunday evening, while his parents are out of the house, with only Minkyung around. 

And while Minkyung had initially resisted, showing sibling solidarity, Wonwoo manages to convince her to help out by getting her some very elusive tickets to a _Day6_ concert by begging his uncle, who works as a sound technician, to pull some strings with his work colleagues who are part of _Day6_ 's promotional team. 

So, when Wonwoo turns up at the Kwon residence on Sunday, with his boxset of _Naruto_ tucked into his backpack, Minkyung silently lets him in and sends him upstairs to Soonyoung's room. 

Soonyoung has his headphones on, fingers busy on his Gameboy when Wonwoo walks in to the room. He looks up at the movement, and then blanches when he spots Wonwoo standing by the closed door. 

"How'd you get in?" he demands, casting aside his headphones and Gameboy and scrambling out of his bed quickly. 

"Your sister let me in," Wonwoo says, and Soonyoung scowls, muttering about betrayals and useless siblings. "And before you try and jump out of the window, just hear me out. Once I've said my piece, you can run off to Canada for all I care."

Soonyoung hesitates, stubbornly avoiding eye contact. 

Wonwoo stomps over to Soonyoung's desk, pulls out the chair and makes himself comfortable. 

"Okay, first of all, I'd like to point out that you're behaving like a complete douche with no backbone in sight," Wonwoo declares, enjoying the satisfaction of watching Soonyoung flinch at his words. 

Good, he hopes they hurt! 

"You've been ignoring my calls, blatantly running away from me and even hiding from me at school. If you don't want to see me or talk to me ever again, at least do me the courtesy of saying it to my face. I think almost eighteen years of loyal friendship deserves that at least." 

"I - " Soonyoung starts to say but shuts up when Wonwoo glares. 

"Let me finish," he demands. "I know it was a shock to find out I like you. Romantically," Wonwoo adds on, just in case they aren't on the same page. Judging by the shade of red Soonyoung turns and his sudden interest in the carpet, Wonwoo is pretty certain Soonyoung has known all along. 

"And trust me, it was a shock to me, too. But I didn't suddenly drop off the face of this planet and cut you out, did I?" Wonwoo continues, blinking a few times because he can feel the sting of angry tears and he really does not want to get all weepy in front of Soonyoung. "I processed my feelings and decided to share them with you, but instead of having a mature conversation about it, you made me feel completely foolish and wretched and _why would you do that?!_ "

A loud sniff stops Wonwoo in the middle of his rant. When he looks at Soonyoung, he's sitting on the bed, eyes red and tears trickling down his cheeks. 

Wonwoo gapes at him. He hadn't meant to make Soonyoung cry. He'd just wanted him to explain his hurtful behaviour and to try and move past this ugly debacle, so they could return to being best friends once again. 

"Soonyoung, what -?"

Soonyoung sniffles loudly, then says tremulously. "I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean to hurt you, really, I didn't."

Wonwoo huffs, torn between wanting to comfort his friend and wanting to watch him hurt a little. "Well, you did. It was such an asshole move."

"I know, I'm _really_ sorry, Wonwoo," Soonyoung mumbles, then hiccups. Wonwoo feels the coldness around his heart melt a little at the pathetic sight. Soonyoung always looks like such a mess when he cries. "I was just so confused..and scared."

"Scared?" Wonwoo wonders. "Of what? I wasn't going to suddenly molest you just because I want to date you."

"No, not that," Soonyoung rushes to explain. "I was scared of losing my best friend just because I didn't know how I felt, and it was so sudden and I didn't want to lose you just because I might not feel the same way."

"Catastrophise much?" Wonwoo scoffs. "If you didn't lose me after you snubbed Death Note, why do you think you'd lose me over this?"

"It's different!" Soonyoung snaps. "Don't lump your feelings for me and for Death Note together."

Wonwoo hides a smile, raising his arms in peace, and nods at Soonyoung to continue. 

"Anyway, I was confused, because I've just never thought of you like that. You've always been my best friend, the kid I grew up with, my brother," Soonyoung continues passionately, Wonwoo flinches at 'brother', even though he'd been in the same boat only a few weeks ago. 

"So, when you said what you did, it kind of forced me to look at you in a different light, and it was very uncomfortable and really confusing at first to hold those two versions of you together. I just needed time to process the change."

"Well, you could have told me and I would have given you time," Wonwoo grumbles. 

"I _know_! I know that," Soonyoung exclaims. "But like you said, I didn't have the guts to face you, and then it all spiralled once I started avoiding you. I could tell you were angry, and that made me angry, because how dare you ruin our friendship like that and get angry at me for wanting some space?!"

"I wouldn't have been angry if you'd just talked to me!"

Soonyoung leaps off the bed, looking ready to storm out of the room. 

"No, wait, I'm listening," Wonwoo says quickly. 

"I tried to distract myself by asking Heejin out," Soonyoung says, and Wonwoo grits his teeth. "But when it came down to asking her out, I couldn't do it, because I kept seeing your stupid mug and I was just _so mad_."

Wonwoo tries to tamp down his gratification. 

"So, yeah, I've thought about it long and hard," Soonyoung says glumly. "And I guess there's no going back."

"What'd you mean?" Wonwoo asks, a sense of dread creeping up his spine. Losing their friendship is worse than the thought of his best friend dating someone else. 

Soonyoung looks at him, eyes flicking about the room a few times before squaring his shoulder with a deep breath. He takes a pillow and wipes his face on it before walking over to where Wonwoo is frozen in the desk chair and grabs his face, tilting it up harshly. 

"Might as well see where this goes," Soonyoung says, before bending down and pressing his lips firmly against Wonwoo's. 

Only, it doesn't play out like one of those dramatic love declaration scenes of a teen movie. No, it's clumsy and awkward, with noses bumping, teeth digging into lips painfully, and Wonwoo's glasses being knocked askew, the frames nearly poking his eye out in the process. 

"Okay, that wasn't sexy at all," Soonyoung mutters, rubbing at his nose and looking put out. 

"You're not supposed to ambush me with it, moron," Wonwoo snaps, taking his glasses off and placing them carefully on the desk. "Kissing requires a bit of finesse."

"Oh, says the one with years of experience," Soonyoung drawls with a roll of his eyes. 

"I know I can do a lot better than you."

"Oh yeah? Prove it!"

Wonwoo grabs Soonyoung, pulling him to sit astride his lap and stretches up to meet his lips, but pulls away at the last minute. "Wait, why are you _goading_ me into kissing you? Does this mean you like me too?"

Soonyoung goes bright red, eyes suddenly focused on Wonwoo's shoulder. "Uh, yeah, I think I might like you, too."

"Might?"

"Just shut up and kiss me," Soonyoung presses forward. "This is the deciding vote. If kissing you turns me on, then I'm willing to date you."

Wonwoo chuckles, reaching up to pull on Soonyoung's ear. "Wow, such generosity," he says before kissing Soonyoung firmly, throwing everything he's learnt from movies (the stupid sappy romance chick flicks as Soonyoung likes to call them) into the kiss. He nibbles on Soonyoung's lower lip and licks at the seam of his mouth, pressing insistently with his tongue until Soonyoung parts his lips with a gasp. A jolt of what feels like electricity runs through him when their tongues tangle, and from there on it becomes wet and messy and leaves his toes curling in pleasure when Soonyoung lets out a desperate moan. 

After what feels like hours, Soonyoung pulls away, looking rather hot and bothered. He glances down at his jeans, and Wonwoo follows his gaze, biting his lip to keep the smug grin at bay. 

"Okay, I guess we're way past platonic at this point," Soonyoung declares sheepishly. 

And Wonwoo, for once in his life, accepts the genius of some of Soonyoung's spontaneous ideas.


End file.
